Origin of the Blind Bandit
by cobblestone
Summary: The Blind Bandit, some say she is a legend, others a fake. All stories start somewhere and it wasn't like she walked up to Xin Fu and asked. Rated T for mild language and some violence.
1. Chapter 1

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 1 

Crippled. That was all anyone thought of her, Master Yu, her guards, her own father and mother. Crippled.  
"Excellent work Toph, hold that stance and remember to breathe properly."  
She held back an acid remark and struggled to breathe as her thoughts boiled with anger. She was way beyond these simple exercizes, they were boring and tedious and nothing she could say or do would convince Master Yu to go even one step further. Her father had forbidden it and what father wanted Master Yu did, after all father paid hansomly for 'lessons' for his beloved daughter.

Breathing exercise this, stance that, it made her want to scream in frustration but she couldn't even do that. One step out of line, one breath of irritation and her father would see it as a threat to his 'fragile daughter' and put it out of sight. At first she had been excited about learning earthbending from Master Yu and astounded that her father had allowed it.

She was going to learn how others applied earthbending, she was going to learn how to protect herself so that her father didn't have to. It had all seemed simple in the beginning, Master Yu would teach her earthbending, she could show her father what she had learned and her father would accept what she had learned as legitimate strength. Not, as he had done in the past, as the flights of fancy of his precious daughter.

She had practiced long before Master Yu had come along, and nothing she had done had been good enough to convince her father that she could fend for herself.  
"Good, good Toph. I think that will be all today, you did well, you should be proud of yourself."  
She put on a fake smile and replied, "Thank you Master Yuu." Oh yes, keep up that humble routine. She sighed in relief after she heard the door close behind her. "I thought you'd never leave," she grumbled.

"Urrraauhg!" she yelled stomping the ground. A rather large patch of earth flew into the air in response to her temper. Her father had even denied her the opportunity to gain strength as he saw strength, he had crippled the lessons itself and left it a shadow for her to play with. If her father was going to keep things from her, then she would start keeping things from him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hello and welcome dear readers. To those of you that have read this far I am your humble host, cobblestone at your service. This is my first published fanfic so go ahead and flame on. This will be the first of I don't know how many chapters in this story, I haven't finished writing it yet.  
This fanfic is taking place before Toph met the Gaang and will not deal with how she met them. Any future ideas surrounding the Gaang during or after the ATLA series will most likely be posted as a separate fanfic. This fanfic is, as the title reads, the _Origin_ of the Blind Bandit.

I know this story has already been done by a very poetic author by the name of effie's head, (go and read Gods and Magnolias, it's good) but I wanted to write it my way.

Please by all means read and review, all input is welcome if not always appreciated.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.


	2. Chapter 2

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 2 

Toph lay awake in her bed listening to the sounds of the night, waiting for the best time to sneak out. She had been planning this for weeks in advance listening to the rotation of the guards, scouting the best route to get to the wall, asking for extra pillows, and in a few more minutes she would be free."Ho there!" shouted a guard.  
Or seconds ... it was time.  
Quickly she striped off the sheets, placed a few extra pillows on the bed, and covered them back up. Hopefully it would look like she was still there to anyone looking in. She tiptoed to her dresser and changed into some decent clothing, no more of that frilly stuff that her mother liked to dress her in. She shuddered thinking about some of them as she slowly slid her door open and snuck out. It was quiet, she could hear and feel some of the guards moving about, so far none of them had noticed her. She ran as fast as she could without making a noise to a nearby hedge and hid behind it, one mistake and she would have to wait for another night.

The first guard passed by her hiding spot and turned a corner, Toph leaped up and ran for the second tree on the right and climbed feeling for the right branch to stand on. As one guard clinked by underneath her feet she wondered why he couldn't hear her breathing and beating heart, it sounded like a drum. By the third guard she was close to passing out, it was one thing to sneak out and another entirely to lose one of her senses as she waited in the tree. No amount of self reassurance could slow her breathing, she couldn't tell where the guards were unless she heard them and by that time it might be to late.She waited for a few more seconds before climbing back down and started rushing for the wall.

This was the hardest part and if she misjudged not only would she be caught, she would have a splitting headache in the morning. Just a few more steps, three, two, one, and she dove at the wall. She closed her eyes, not that it would help, and felt for the wall with her fingertips. As soon as she felt the rock wall it started to flow through her fingers as she bent it, turning her palms outward she spread the rock in the wall and shot through the newly created hole like an arrow. Quickly she tucked her head, curled into a ball and landed on the ground with a grunt. When she had stopped rolling she stood up and closed the gap. For a while she stood there staring at the wall in disbelief before letting out a wild cry, she had done it! For the first time in her life she was standing outside her fathers' home.

* * *

**Authors Note:** Hello and thank you for reading this far into the Origin of the Blind Bandit. This is the second installment of an indeterminate amount of chapters. For those of you that have any questions please do not hesitate to ask as what is said in my mind is not always transfered properly into written form.

As always please do read and review and remember that all input is welcome, but not always appreciated.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show. 


	3. Chapter 3

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 3

She had heard some of the guards talking about something called Earthrumble. They had seemed excited about it, apparently it was some kind of earthbending competition where people with stupid sounding names like 'Dr. Crush' or 'The Hippo' tried to knock each other out of a ring. It sounded idiotic, but there was no other place that she knew about to try earthbending without interference from her father.So, the first person she came across she asked about Earthrumble.

"It's such a dreadful ruckus, my husband talks about it all the time. Why would you want ..." the lady hesitated for a second. "Why, you're blind! Why would you want to go to such a dreadful event when you can't even see?"

The woman had such a high pitched whine to her voice it felt like her ears were going to start bleeding. "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't see, and for your information I'm going to kick every last earthbender they have in the butt."  
"But, you're blind," the lady protested.  
"Yeah, I know, thanks for noticing," Toph said stalking off.

The more people she asked the more infuriated she became, every single one of them discounted her because she was blind. Not one person noticed that she hadn't bumped into anyone or tripped over something in her way. To them she was just a little blind girl, an oddity not even worth noticing.

After a while what few people that were left on the street disappeared into their homes and Toph was left alone. She sighed in irritation, all that time wasted. She slowly began to walk back home to her boring, dull life. It wasn't fair, everyone seemed to treat her like she was a nobody and if she told anyone who her father was they might decide to take her back right away in the hopes of getting a reward.  
"Hey, I can take you to the arena where Earthrumble will be held," a voice behind her yelled. She felt his footsteps as he jogged towards her.

"What? Where were you three hours ago?" About time someone in this town answered a simple question. "Let's get going I don't have much time to waste."  
"Alright, but just so you know, they aren't fighting tonight."  
"I know, I just want to know where it's being held."  
"Okay," he replied.

Toph jumped as she felt the man's hand grip her arm. She reacted quickly breaking his grip in one swift move. A half a second and one leg sweep later she had him pinned face down on the ground."What do you think you are doing?" she was another half second away from breaking his fingers.  
"Ow, ow! Lighten up, how can you follow me if you're blind?"  
Great, another idiot. "I can hear you walking, just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm an invalid.""Oh."  
"Yeah, oh." She took her weight off of the small of his back and let him stand up.  
"Well," he said as he brushed dirt of his clothes, "follow me, I guess."

Every few seconds she heard him look back at her, it was a slight grinding sound as the dirt between his feet and the ground pivoted with him. The sound was annoying, and his constant checking was getting on her nerves.  
A few turns later he stopped in front of two people and one of them asked, "Is this the one?"  
"Yeah, she is."

Now she was angry, "You had better start explaining things or I'm going to start breaking heads with very big rocks."  
"It's simple," her guide said, "these fine gentlemen offered me money to bring you here, I get paid and you stay with them."  
"Over my dead body," fear and excitement started to flood through the anger, she was going to have a real fight.  
"There's no need to get drastic, we just want to talk," the first of the two spoke; the second snickered.  
"Right, talk," like she would believe that garbage.  
"Umm, my payment?" her ex-guide sounded nervous.

The second man flicked a coin at the guide and told him to get lost. When she couldn't hear his fleeing footsteps anymore she settled into a stance and waited.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I have already written the next chapter, but I will not be posting it until I get more of Chapter 5 written. If anyone notices spelling or grammatical errors let me know and I'll fix them. As well if something isn't clear, post what isn't and I will attempt to remedy them.  
As always please do read and review and remember that all input is welcome, but not always appreciated. 

Wow, I can't believe I forgot to split up the paragraphs, here's to the egg on my face and a paragraphed story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.


	4. Chapter 4

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 4

The first man laughed at her, "So the blind girl knows an earthbending stance or two, impressive."  
"Try me, numbskull," she snarled. I'll show you who's blind.  
"No I think not, at least not yet. You see, I want you to know why you're here." He paused, "Do you know why you're here?"

A talker, why doesn't this guy get this started. "Gee, I don't know, my sparkling wit?"  
His laugh was pure menace, "No, I think not. You see I take offense when a little blind girl starts spouting that she is going to defeat someone in Earthrumble. You see, I work for Earthrumble I was recruited because I'm one of the best."

Toph had stopped listening at 'I work for Earthrumble' she had started concentrating on his pacing footsteps. If no one would tell her where Earthrumble was being held she would take the next best thing. Beating the crap out of this blowhard. One, two, three, pivot. His steps were heavy. One, two, three, pivot.

He ...one...  
was so ...two...  
predictable ...three...

He began to pivot; Toph lifted her heel, making sure to keep her toes in place and thumped it back down. His leg continued to swing in a circle, rotating to his downfall and he couldn't stop. He cracked his toes on the slight mesa she had created and howled in pain. Toph took a step forward and stomped, earth checked him in the gut and he went flying backwards. She could feel his feet dragging on the ground as he arced through the air. One down, she smirked.

The second person hadn't moved, hadn't made a sound. She couldn't tell what he was going to do until he started moving. "What, are you too scared to take on a little girl?" she taunted.  
His only response was to launch two boulders at her from the wall he was leaning on, and to start running away. Oh no you don't Toph thought as she dodged the first projectile. The second clipped her shoulder and lifted her feet off the ground, she was blind. She panicked, where was he, what was he doing, was he sending more projectiles at her right now? She landed on her back, rolled to her left and planted a foot as she shifted her weight around into a kneeling position. First lesson, she thought, don't get knocked down.

The man's footsteps had disappeared; he couldn't have gotten to far, so he must either be hiding or not moving. "Come out, come out wherever you are," she called.  
No response, no pounding footsteps, no swishing of fabric, nothing. Except there was an outcropping of rock reaching up to roof level. She sighed, a few minutes in a tree was enough for one night, there was no way she was going to go chasing an earthbender through the rooftops. "Great, so now what?" She tossed her arms in frustration, she still had no idea where Earthrumble was going to be held. Unless ...

She started walking down the alley and sure enough, the blowhard was still laying on the ground writhing in pain.  
"Get up."  
He stopped moving and let out a groan, "What are you doing here?"  
"What, you didn't see? Your buddy ran and left you here."

He started cursing, "No good ungrateful son of a ..."  
"Yeah, yeah, less complaining more getting up. You're going to take me to your boss."  
"Are you crazy?" he wheezed.  
"Maybe. I've been looked down upon my whole life, seen as less than nothing. Do you want to find out how crazy I am?"  
He swallowed audibly, "No, I'll take your word for it."

* * *

**Author's Note: ** Chapter 5 has been written, so here is chapter 4 as promised. Much editing went into this chapter to get that slow-mo feel of Tophs' earthbending just right, and general; this doesn't sound right stuff. Thank you to those of you who wrote reviews, I'm glad to see that my version of this story has been entertaining so far. There is still more to come, so hold on and enjoy the ride, and as always please do review after reading. Remember that all input is welcome, if not always appreciated. 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.


	5. Chapter 5

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 5 

Toph walked alongside the blowhard, his shuffling steps and hoarse breathing made it easy for her to keep up with her shorter strides. He made occasional turns through the town's alleyways and she followed listening for suspicious movement.  
"How do you do that?" he blurted.  
"Do what?"  
"Not trip. You've avoided rubble, plants, cracks in the ground without missing a step"  
She sighed, her shoulder was beginning to ache from the impact and she was in no mood to explain how she felt things. "I just don't, so shut it and keep walking."  
He stopped and turned to face her, "If I hadn't cracked some ribs I'd ..."  
"Hey!" she yelled, "you didn't crack your ribs, I did. So I suggest you turn around and take me to your boss before I decide to bury you."

He swallowed hard and started walking again. Apparently he decided that taking her where she wanted was in his best interest because for the rest of the trip was spent in silence. Before long he stopped at an entrance to what felt to her like a giant dome.  
"We're here," he opened the door and walked through.

Inside several people were chatting, stretching, and generally making noise. "Hey! Look who's back" Another voice chimed in, "I hear a little blind girl messed you up!" Everyone inside started to laugh as Toph stepped through the door behind the blowhard.  
"Oh ho! what's this darling little thing," the same voice said. The next sentence out of his mouth pissed her off.  
"Did you want to see where daddy worked?" he burst out laughing.  
She put as much sarcasm as she could in to her voice and answered, "Yeah, daddy told me that the people he worked with were scrawny wimps."  
There was silence for a bit before the room erupted in ominous tones.  
"What?! NO! She's lying, I'm not her father!" the blowhard protested.  
"Whoa, wait! Don't tell me that's the girl that messed you up Mudslide."  
"Your name is Mudslide?" Toph laughed.  
"Shut up," he muttered.

The tone of the room had gone from dangerous to confusion. Comment were being thrown about, most of them focusing on how small she was and how she could never beat any of _them_.  
One of them walked up to her and shifted his weight in a familiar pattern, a quick shifting from one foot to another. This guy was waving his hand in her face. "Hey guys, this girl's blind!"  
Laughter broke out again.  
"You got taken down by a _blind _girl," another voice gasped between breaths.

She seethed inside, people were underestimating her again.  
"Come on _mudslide_, I still don't know where your boss is," she hissed.  
He wheezed a sigh and shuffled out amidst the laughter.  
"Come on, the faster I never see you again the better."  
"Suits me just fine."

They walked through the room and followed a long hallway into the largest indoor space Toph had ever heard. Not even her father had such a large space in his mansion. Their footsteps echoed and rebounded around the stadium, she could feel a thrum though her feet and lungs. The best part of it was the entire stadium was made of stone, she could feel everything. It was paradise.

In the center of the stadium, on a raised platform, someone stood. It was that person she was going to see, that person that would allow her to earthbend without limit, away from her father.  
"Xin Fu, there's someone here to see you."  
Xin Fu turned and looked at them, "Who is it this time? It had better not be another one of your stupid fan's wanting free tickets"  
"Uhh, boss. She's right here," he started to cough and doubled up in pain. "Boss," he whispered, "I gotta go see a healer, I busted some ribs"  
"Yeah, yeah, fine," Xin Fu waved him away and focused on Toph. "Now who are you and what are you doing in my stadium?"  
Finally down to business, "My name is Toph, and I want to compete in Earthrumble."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Here's chapter 5, it took longer than I would have liked, but I had a few sectors of my hard drive go kaput. Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 were on those sectors, so I had to re-write them. Well, I re-wrote chapter 5 anyway, 6 is still in the re-working stage. So enjoy and as always please do review after reading. Remember that all input is welcome, if not always appreciated. 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.


	6. Chapter 6

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 6

Silence. Well, mostly silence. She could still hear Xin Fu breathing, faint laughter from the direction she came from, and the thrum of the giant stadium as it echoed the stillness.  
Xin Fu took a breath and spoke in his gravelly voice, "Stop wasting my time girl."  
"What?!" Toph blurted. Her answer rebounded off walls and seats, making that single word a mockery of her outrage.  
"Are you deaf too?" he growled after the echo had died, "I said, stop wasting my time girl."  
No, this was not happening. Not after how much work she had put into this.

"Fine, how am I wasting _your_ time, and if it's because I'm blind then you're wasting _mine_."  
"Yes, you're blind. I might have been willing to overlook that if you weren't so obviously young, inexperienced at earthbending, and a girl."  
She felt her jaw drop, "I am _not_ inexperienced at earthbending."  
He grumbled for a second before responding, "Even if you could afford a teacher you can't have had more than two years training. I don't accept anyone unless they can prove they can earthbend without injuring themselves, or the person they fight against."  
She gritted her teeth and said, "Try me."

Xin Fu just stood there for a moment, she couldn't tell what he was going to do or say, he was still as a rock. "HIPPO!" he yelled. What was he doing yelling a weird animal name?  
She felt the heavy footsteps before a deep sullen voice answered, "Yes boss?" from down below.  
"Get up here, I want you to teach this girl why she can't be in Earthrumble."  
"Okay boss." The footsteps kept getting louder as 'Hippo' got closer.

He stopped in front of her, "You're small."  
"Uh huh, and you're not."  
"Just get on with it Hippo," Xin Fu sounded annoyed.  
"Right boss."  
He hopped and landed with a thud, tipping the platform and sending Toph sprawling a few steps. She wrapped some earth around her feet to stop her from moving. This guy was huge, and his earthbending complimented that, to bad he had a pea brain.

He hopped again and landed, this time sending her up with a column of rock. Her gripped feet prevented her from being launched into the air and he charged at her. She loosened the rock covering her feet and concentrated on the one side of the column. She kicked and half of what she was standing on responded by launching itself at Hippo.  
He grunted as it hit him on his left side and shattered. It had slowed him down and pushed him to the side a bit, but he was still coming at her.

This guy was a mountain, she grinned, and a mountain can crumble from the weight of a single pebble. She concentrated on one of the smaller pieces of rocks that had shattered from her earlier effort and sent it at the right time. The Hippo; in mid stride, his right foot slowly coming down to his destruction as the round pebble skipped into place. His foot landed and he slid backward off balance.

She called larger rocks with her hands and sent them careening into his back, sending him further and further off course and closer to the edge of the arena. He never did recover his balance, his own momentum carried him to the edge, and she sent one final fist sized rock aimed at his shoulder blades. He pinwheeled his arms attempting to stay where he was and fell, landing outside the ring with a crash.

She turned to Xin Fu, "Satisfied now?"

* * *

**Author's Note: **Finally another chapter is finished. I just noticed how ff.n doesn't like periods inside quotation marks when you upload a file; hope I caught all of them. Writing a realistic Xin Fu was a challenge, we see so little of him that I had to extrapolate a bit. He doesn't seem like such a bad guy when he doesn't want his performers to be injured, but I think that is also a part of his greed. If an employee is injured, he can't make money out of them until they are better (ie what happens if the Earthrumble Champion get injured and can't perform?). Anyway, enough rambling, and as always please do review after reading. 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.

** Edit: **Well that was an embarrassing typo. Thanks to Child of the Mind for pointing it out to me.


	7. Chapter 7

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 7

"No ..."  
"What do you want from me?" Toph yelled, "I already beat the walrus over there, you have an injured earthbender that won't be able to compete, and I'm offering to take his place."  
She heard Xin Fu exhale slowly, "As I was saying, no, not with the clothes you're wearing."  
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"  
"Your shirt is yellow and your pants are blue."  
"Oh."

"Come back in a couple of days and bring the registration fee, we'll work out the details of your contract after that."  
"Whoa, wait a minute. Registration fee?"  
"Of course, you don't think that this is free do you? Using the stadium isn't cheap, plus we need to make you a costume, and the administration fees as well."

This guy was almost as bad as her father, "How much?"  
"Four-hundred gold pieces and not a copper penny less."  
Four-hundred ... how was she supposed to get four-hundred gold pieces in two days? "Two hundred and you have a deal."  
"This isn't a bazaar, the fee is not negotiable. You either come up with the money or you don't fight in Earthrumble."  
"Fine, you better have a seamstress ready for me when I get back," she said and walked out of the stadium.

------------

How was she going to get four-hundred gold pieces? The question haunted her, she couldn't just ask her father, he would ask questions that she couldn't answer. Asking her mother wasn't any better, she was in charge of the household, not the money that was needed. She couldn't ask any of the guards, they don't make enough in a year to cover that much money. There was absolutely no way she could get that much money on her own.

She continued to wrack her mind all the way home, not once hesitating in her steps. She stopped and pretended to stare at the wall in front of her, it was all that separated her from her home. She yawned and rotated her shoulder, the stiffness and pain told her that there would be a nasty bruise there in the morning. She would have to hide it from the servants that fussed and poked and prodded her into a 'proper lady.' It had taken her months to convince them to allow her to walk without shoes, she had walked into a wall before that happened though.

She couldn't tell if the wall was staring back so she bent a hole in the wall and walked through. There was no one waiting for her on the other side so she bolted to the closest hiding spot. Five minutes later she was back in her room, she yawned again and changed back into her night clothes. She dragged herself into her bed, not caring how she couldn't feel anything on it.

Her thoughts began to drift over the events of the day, her nervous anticipation, the fight in the alleyway, her fear standing in the tree, the conversation with Xin Fu. If worse came to worst she could always become a bandit and steal the money.

* * *

**Author's Note: **One more chapter for the books, I should have had this done for last week, but real life can be a real task master at times. So enjoy, I haven't given up on finishing this and there is more planned to come and as always please do review after reading.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.


	8. Chapter 8

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 8

"Mistress," a familiar voice whispered in her ear. "Mistress Toph, it's almost time for the morning meal."   
She groaned and rolled onto her back, her head felt like it was surrounded in cotton. "Go away," she moaned.   
"Your parents wanted me to wake you for breakfast, They're waiting for you in the dining room."   
A gentile hand touched her shoulder and nudged. Pain blossomed from her shoulder up through her neck and nestled in the base of her skull. She groaned, this time in pain, and the hand was quickly withdrawn.

"Are you alright Mistress?" Not five minutes and her injury had already been found. Think, how to explain.  
"I needed to use the little girls room last night and I wasn't paying attention. I banged my shoulder going out my door." Please believe the lie.   
"Mistress, why didn't you call for me?" the maid asked in a dumbfounded manner.  
"Would you like to hold my hand while I'm there as well?"  
"Mistress!" this time the word shouted indignation, it never ceased to amaze her just how many different meanings the maid could produce with just one word.  
"Fine, next time I'll call. And I have a name you know; it's not mistress."  
"Yes, lady Toph."

----------

Dinning with her parents had always been a strained affair, and this was no exception. They kept fussing over inane things, like holding their breath when she scooped something up with a her chopsticks, or insisting that her food was either too hot or too cold. As if she couldn't even feel the steam from hot food and judge for herself if it was too hot, or that they expected her to suddenly jab her nose with the chopsticks. For the most part she tried to avoid the whole thing, but every once and a while her parents insisted. The theme of the meals only varied in one of two ways; either they wanted to play host to some important person, in which case she was mostly ignored, or they had something important to talk to her about. This was the latter, and by far the worse of the two.

"Your father and I will be leaving town tonight. Count Naku is holding a ball and we've been invited, so we'll be away for about a week. Your father and I expect you to stay out of trouble while we're gone," her mother explained.Thanks mother, but I intent to make trouble, not get into it.

"Toph, Captain Quan will be in charge while we're gone. I have left explicit instructions with him, so I expect you to do what he tells you."  
Great, instructions; did you tell him how to blow my nose as well?

"Yes Father."  
"Good, if you will excuse us, your Mother and I have things to pack for our trip."  
Her parents filed out of the room chatting to each other and giving instructions to the occasional servant that crossed their path. Toph slumped in her chair, she needed to think, and there was only one place that suited her.

----------

The garden was beautiful, at least, that was what she believed. The air was always fresh, the earth teemed with life, the stream gurgled pleasantly; it was where she always came to root herself. She found a spot and sat on the rich loam. She took a deep breath, and her nose filled with the scents of the garden, the musky earth smell of the loam, the muted sweetness of the flowers, the heavy dampness of the stream. She listened to the chittering of the birds, the buzz of insects, and the swirling of the air. And she felt the gentle prickle of grass, the rhythmic march of ants, and the slow heartbeat of the earth.

She needed answers, and they always came to her faster here, surrounded by what her senses could perceive. So she sat, and thought, and waited for something to occur to her. No one would be likely to give her the money, and she couldn't ask, word would get around to her father. Did she really need gold? Or would something else suffice? Where would that much gold likely be? How much was really needed, and how could she get it? She wracking her brain for what seemed like hours for something that could get her what she wanted.

In the end, only one answer remained, she knew how she was going to do it.

* * *

**Author's Note:** And I'm not telling until it gets written. This was a fun chapter to write, I needed to do a lot of thinking about how Toph was going to do this. I guess that's what inspired Toph's thinking spot, not that I have one, I tend to pace ... okay, tangent over. There is, of course more, so please do review this chapter after reading. 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.

**Edit:** Old English, is old. Oh well, edited for clarity.


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: **I in no way approve nor endorse theft in any way, shape, or form. This story is purely fictional and under no circumstances should any type of type of theft be attempted. You will be arrested and prosecuted in real life. You have been warned.

* * *

Origin of the Blind Bandit - Chapter 9 

She waited. For three days she waited to set her plan into motion. It didn't feel right stealing from her own father, no matter how much she detested how he treated her, he was still her father. But there was no other way.

Her father was obsessed with security, not only for herself, but for his collection of antiques and the money he used to buy them. They were housed in a vault of hardened metal walls that he had imported from the Fire Kingdom at great personal expense. She had tried bending the metal from a distance to no effect. She didn't get why Master Yu kept saying that bending metal was impossible, after all metal still came from the earth. Someday she would have to sit down with a piece and try to bend it, but not today.

Fortunately there was an easier way into the vault and she had spent the better part of three nights preparing to break in. The one thing that her father hadn't anticipated in building his vault was the floor. He was so preoccupied with what he could see that he had neglected to cover the floor with metal as well. Beneath the mats in his vault there was nothing but dirt, something that she could manipulate at will.

So she had spent those three nights moving and bending tunnels from her room to the vault and several other places outside the house. There had been no room for mistakes, earthbending was noisy. She had listened for the tapping of feet on the surface between shifting the soil; any odd noise that a guard might hear would put them on alert. Captain Quan made sure that they reported it as well; he was competent in his job if nothing else.

In the end she had built five escape tunnels, it would be enough to keep them guessing, and allow her to escape with what she needed. The only thing she needed now was to wait for the guard change, which was when they were the least alert. They liked to chat before going, and that might help cover the noise of her earthbending. So she waited with her back against the rounded slope of the tunnel she had created underneath the vault. Her heart leaped every time she felt some footsteps pause close to the people guarding the vault, and each time they moved away she became more anxious.

She was tired and stiff from building the tunnels, but she had to wait. Moving too soon could jeopardize her plan; she wanted to fight in Earthrumble. Now that she had some time to think about her fight in the alley, she had realized that it had been the most fun she had had in her life. The way her heart had pounded not knowing if she could win, the exhilaration of beating her opponents, and the sheer freedom she felt not having to pretend to be the good little girl, there was nothing else like it. She needed freedom to run in the dirt, to swear, to be herself and not worry if anyone was watching. So she waited for the guards, patient, because her sanity and freedom depended upon it.

The even tapping of feet again, is it time? They stopped; she waited, they didn't move. Just a little longer, it might not be the guard change. Her heart pounded, wanting to believe that it was time to end her solitary vigil. The feet shuffled and shifted, no one was moving away; time for her to start.

She opened a small hole up to the vault and listened for voices - the guards were chatting. They didn't seem to have heard anything; loose dirt from the mat above clogged her throat making her want to cough. She motioned the dust away and lifted the mat off of the hole; she pulled herself over the edge and started searching.

The room was filled with pottery, masks, jewelery, and anything else her father had deemed worthy enough to purchase, but she wasn't looking for any of those things. She searched quickly and as quietly as she could, while keeping an ear out for the guards. What she was looking for wasn't there, there were no gold coins. So where could they be? There was an odd metal box in one of the corners of the room, so she went to check what it was. She felt it with her hands, and listened, it seemed hollow. It must be the combination safe her father had boasted about. He had said that no one could open it without the right sequence of numbers.

She felt around the seams of the box thinking of a way to open it. There was no way to bend it open; it was solid metal without any openings. There was a dial and a handle on one of the sides, so she pushed on the handle. It moved a fraction and stopped, so much for it being open, the dial must be the only way to open it. She twisted it in frustration, and jumped in surprise at the loud clicking noise that it emitted. It was so loud, couldn't the guards outside hear it?

She paused listening to the guards; they were still chatting comfortably, not aware of anything wrong. She put her ear up to the safe and concentrated. The clicks were in even intervals so she kept turning, nothing was happening. Maybe she was turning it the wrong way? She reversed direction and something rasped in the depth of the safe. Several clicks later she heard a clunk, had it opened? She tried the handle again, nothing, so she continued to turn in the same direction and the safe made a different clunk. It still wouldn't open so she kept turning, hoping for another noise from the safe.

After a bit she stopped; it wasn't opening. What was she doing wrong? Maybe the different clunk was the reset, if that was true it meant that after the first clunk it needed to be turned the other direction. She tried it and reversed the direction after the first clunk, and soon came to the second, so she tied the handle again. Still not open so she reversed direction again and repeated twice more until there was a double clunk from the safe. She pushed on the handle and it turned.

She pulled and the safe opened silently; its hinges were well oiled. She reached inside and felt around. There were several bags filled with the clinking of coin. But the thing that surprised her most was that two-thirds of the safe were filled with gold bars. She new her father was rich, but that many gold bars? That was beyond rich. She grabbed a bag and walked, careful not to jostle the coins. All of her instincts were yelling at her to run but she forced herself to walk to the hole and gently lower the bag before she followed suit.

Then she ran, as fast as her feet would allow her. She had set up the tunnel closest to her room with a Y junction that she could seal it off it was just a matter of getting to it before her theft was discovered. Left, right, another left; she turned and closed the tunnel hurriedly as she ran past. With luck no one would be able to tell there was another tunnel going under her room. She flopped down onto the ground, raising dust and jostling the coins.

Toph Bei Fong had just pulled off a robbery that even the greatest of master thieves could admire. She giggled, she really was a blind bandit. The bag was beginning to soak up the sweat off her hand so she stood up and punched a shelf in the tunnel wall. Tomorrow night she would take the money to Xin Fu, and join the Earthrumble ranks.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Long chapter! Well, long for me anyway. I'm going to post this on Monday because I'm tired of staring at the screen and probably can't see how horrible some of my sentences are.

Yup, some of those sentences were awful. Hopefully they're all fixed now. Thanks for all the reviews so far, I really appreciate them. Props go to Child of the Mind for calling me on questionable grammar and awkward sentences.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar nor any of the rights to said show.


End file.
